


Chase the Moon like Fire

by alphadick



Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: M/M, More tags to be added as story progresses, Raptor Pack, Raptor Squad, barry and delta are besties, college!zach, of age!zach, slight AU, somewhat follows movie plot...somewhat, zara doesn't die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2018-12-03 04:02:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11524137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphadick/pseuds/alphadick
Summary: Zach has accepted a year long internship position with Jurassic World-all thanks to his aunt Claire who pulled the strings for him. Originally he'd run off to the island to spite his parents but now he truly loves the place and all its creatures. Besides, what could happen on an island full of deadly dinosaurs? One wild raptor Alpha, four dangerous pointy raptor girlies, an Indominous Rex, and Zach starts to think he might have bitten off more than he can chew.





	1. prologue: the tiny pitter-patter of baby raptors.

**Author's Note:**

> This is so incredibly random considering I have loved this pairing since the movie came out, but I was recently rewatching jurassic world for like the 100th time and felt compelled to actually write something this time.
> 
> This kinda follows the movie in a sense, but it starts off completely differently. Also Zach is like 18-19 in this because he has one year of college under his belt before he decides to spend his second year in an internship on the island. 
> 
> I hope you like this, Owen's bond with his pointy babies is everything to me so that is super highlighted throughout this whole fic.

It always begins with the crack of an egg, this time it’s three eggs, but Owen meets their entry to the world with just as much excitement as all the others. This time however, it’s tinged with a minute amount of sadness, despair at the thought that they might meet the end like all the others…well except for his girl Blue. As if she can sense his thoughts, a tiny raptor coo sounds from the large inner pocket of his leather jacket. The higher ups think he’s crazy, but how is he going to establish dominance and imprint from the outside of a cage with babies so young? Besides, Blue is his pride and joy, the only to survive when all her siblings had died of a particularly virulent strain of pneumonia. The eggs after her hadn’t even made it out before there was a call of no signs of life. But these ones…Owen feels that steady, cautious optimism growing from the bottom of his heart as he gazes on his three new babies.

“Blue, meet your sisters, Charlie, Delta, and Echo,” Owen whispers fervently, stroking the outside of the eggs delicately as Blue’s new siblings continue to struggle out of their shell prisons. He loves to take these moments with his girls; the quiet is soothing in a way that Haskins is not. The man is breathing down his neck every day wondering when his girls will be ready. Which is stupid because blue is barely a few weeks old and her sisters aren’t even hatched.

He pushes those unpleasant thoughts from his mind and focuses on pulling Blue from his coat pocket, her body getting bigger and stronger by the day. He’d sewn the pouch into his leather jacket early on; wanting to keep Blue near his body heat after the rest of her biological siblings had perished. She’s getting bigger, her little head almost poking out now even when she curls into the plush fabric. Owen pulls her delicately from the warmth of his body and places her amidst her new siblings. Blue’s interest is peaked, her tiny snout poking against the eggs around her, interested at first before poking harder and digging her new siblings the rest of the way out.

Owen lets his fingers trail over the soft scaly ridges of his new girls, delicately associating them with his touch and smell, marking them with his scent and bonding them into the pack. Blue does the same, her delicate little head pressing against each of her sister’s and then coming back to Owen. He wraps them all in a blanket, pulling them against his body and away from the cold unfeeling box of an incubator.

Blue starts to snuggle back into his warmth, taking the place right above his heart and immediately allowing her siblings to curl around her. They’re too young to start snipping at each other so he enjoys the peaceful moments while they can last. Just him and his girls.  
  
||

Barry laughs at him as he rounds the island in his kitchen, the pitter-patter of tiny raptor claws clinking across the linoleum. Four sets follow him towards the couch where he rests with a bowl filled with raw meat and a bottle of beer. His raptors gather around his feet, Blue, who’s considerably taller than her sisters, is able to use her claws to climb the side of the couch and up into Owen’s lap much to his chagrin. His best friend follows behind him, his own bottle of beer clutched in his fist as he falls into the recliner off to his left. Delta separates slightly from the group, not going too far but moving to lean against Barry’s leg, eyes still focused intently on the bowl in Owen’s lap. “Haskins sent a memo, he’s coming down in the next few weeks, expects ‘improvement’,” Barry spits disdainfully, taking the opportunity to grab the TV remote and flick it on to the ball game—which was the whole reason for their get together in the first place. He puts the remote down and runs some soft fingers over Delta’s scaly head, chuckling when she clucks at Owen in hunger.

“Well he can shove his ‘improvement’ up his ass,” Owen hisses, a resounding battle cry coming back to him through his girls. He’d long learned that his moods seemed to affect them, that they could smell the minute changes in his scent that gave away his thoughts and feelings.

Barry laughs heartily and watches Owen feed small strips of meet to each of the raptors. Charlie gets a little nippy, her teeth almost closing on Owen’s middle finger but he’s just fast enough to pull it out of range. Soon, they’re going to be too big for this, too big for Owen to be treating them like household dogs…scaly puppies at that. But the look of pure pleasure on his friend’s face is enough for Barry to want Owen to have as much of this time with them as possible. He’d seen his friend through war, through three tours and the successive PTSD that came with all the shit they had seen and done. 

Blue chirps happily, nipping Owen in that soft way she had taken to, demanding more food. The man happily obliges, she’s his beta after all, and she needs more food than the others as a show of dominance.

“Let’s watch the game,” Barry changes the subject, the football game back on after a commercial and he let’s them pretend that it’s just another normal day. With the meat all gone Barry lifts Delta up into his lap and settles in to watch some good ole American entertainment. The other three remaining raptors curl into Owen’s side, with Blue firmly on top of Owen’s lap.

||

When they get bigger Owen is forced to put them in their pen—or ‘enclosure’ as the PC InGen assholes like to say. Either way, he hates it, just as much as they do, but he’s expressly forbid from entering anymore. Even though he trusts these animals with his life—Claire Dearing puts a quick hell no to any and all of his ideas. She threatens rather harshly, that if he even so much as steps one toe into their pen he’s off the island faster than he can quip a comeback.

Barry commiserates with him on more than a few occasions, the small solace of being able to pet them when they’re in the headlocks is what keeps Owen afloat. Delta has a special liking for Barry, the sweet girl coos at him whenever he’s near and if the man takes a few extra minutes ‘checking her over’ then no one says anything—Owen may smirk that shit eating grin of his—but no one ever voices anything.

Besides, they learned not to talk shit in front of Owen—especially not about his raptors—he’d knocked out the first guy who’d even so much as looked at his girls the wrong way.

His girls, they’re big now, huge actually. Far taller than an average man and deadly if given the opportunity, and shit would they love the opportunity—if Haskins is involved that is. They’d picked up from day one that Owen hated the man’s guts. Whenever he came around Owen could usually tell simply by the way his girls reacted to his scent. Their heads would lower, tails whipping violently as their eyes narrowed towards his oncoming presence. Blue had tried to take a chunk out of him on more than a few times. Owen never chastised her for this, how could you chastise your favorite child for doing something you sorely wish you could?

It’s one of those days; Haskins drops by the pen and orders Owen to show him what they’ve been working on. Barry rolls his eyes over the shoulder of the round, egotistical man, but understands they’re not going to get out of this one so easily.

It’s a balance, Owen realizes, his girls are only his girls because of InGen and they’re only going to stay that way if he continues to show success in organizing them into maneuvers. 

“Come on Blue, let’s show ‘em what we got,” Owen murmurs to his beautiful girl, Blue cooing in response.


	2. we're always running away.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zach comes to the island.

The heat in Costa Rica is stifling, the humidity thick enough that Zach feels like it’s weighing him down just as much as the sweat soaking his clothes. He lugs his suitcase through the streets heading towards the port where the ferry is supposed to pick him up to taxi him to Isla Nublar. It had been a rather rash decision to accept the job offer, but at the moment school isn’t quite cutting it for Zach and a yearlong break on a tropical island sounds like just the sort of thing he needs to get himself back on track. He checks his phone again, quickly rereading the email that had been sent to him a few short days before he embarked on this trip.

_Mr. Mitchell,_

_A plane ticket has been procured in your name to fly you to Costa Rica where you will catch the ferry to Isla Nublar. A worker will meet you after you step off and lead you into the park and show you around. As a new employee of Jurassic World you will be…_

Zach skims the rest of the email, none of the information any different than the other hundred times he read it, but it gives him a sense of composure as he looks through the itinerary. His mother thought he was crazy for accepting a job that didn’t have a clear description or outline, but his Aunt Claire had assured him that it would be the opportunity of a lifetime and look amazing on any future resumes. It hadn’t taken very much convincing on Zach’s part and even threats from his father to cut him off and be kicked out hadn’t kept him from coming.

He rounds a corner and the port comes into the view, multiple different ships breaking the horizon with their sails. A big white monstrosity sits heavily in the port, rather rectangular in shape for a boat and flat on top. If anything, its purpose is to hold people, lots of people. Zach skirts the long line of tourists anxiously waiting in the hot Costa Rican sun for the gang plank to come down and let them board. Off to the side tucked around another corner of line gates is a booth with a rather severe looking man and some guards attending it.

“This is the employee entrance,” he barks immediately, stopping any further forward progress for Zach. The man’s looking him over like fresh meat, obviously letting Zach’s apparent baby face lull him into his—wrong—thoughts that Zach is too young to be employed through Jurassic World. 

“I’m actually a new hire,” Zach bites back, pulling out his phone to show the official job offer email to the stiff man. He regards it rather silently, confirming it with something on his own screen and then nodding resolutely. The man stiffly allows Zach to pass him and soon he’s near the front of an opposite line waiting to board the boat. There’s almost no one in his line, a few other employees but they seem rather uninterested in talking. Instead he watches another ferry way out in the water, trudge along towards the island, too small for him to see clearly on the horizon. With a sharp whistle the gangways come down and a flurry of people start climbing up onto the boat and procuring seats. Zach climbs the stairs until he’s further up and out in the open air where he can enjoy the sunny afternoon and ocean breeze.

The ferry tugs along at a steady pace, the island growing in the distance as they near it. A group of giggles draws Zach’s attention to the right, eyes honing in on four girls whispering to each other as they stare at him. When his eyes fall on them they blush rather impressively and huddle even closer together as their voices grow even louder. If he was still in high school he might be more inclined to acknowledge their attention, but with one year of university under his belt and the girls looking no older than 15 or 16, he’s going to take a hard pass.

Zach looks back towards the ocean, gazing towards the island that is soon to become his home. His parents had been so angry with him for deciding to take the job offer his aunt had presented him with. It had been rather last minute really, but Zach had worked it out with his school that he was going to be taking a year off for a ‘biology internship’ on the very famous, and very notorious, Isla Nublar—home of none other than Jurassic World.

His mother had never allowed him or his little brother Gray—who was seemingly unnaturally obsessed with dinosaurs—to visit the island even though their aunt had worked there for quite a few years without incident. That’s why when he broke the news that he was taking a break from school and heading to the island for a full year they, unsurprisingly, had a rather terrible reaction. Zach’s father had yelled, Gray had cried—but that was more because he was jealous he couldn’t go too than anything, and his mother had gone into a stupor of stunned silence. 

They really couldn’t keep him from going however, and here Zach is, ferrying out to the island to start his internship. There haven’t been many things that have been able to change Zach’s mind once he’s gotten stuck on a certain idea. 

||

It’s not even that he particularly likes dinosaurs that much either. In reality, Zach is about as interested in dinosaurs as he is about any other living breathing creature, but this decision represents a freedom that Zach has not yet gotten a taste of. How much further could one run than an island off the coast of Costa Rica inhabited by dinosaurs? 

Zach patiently waits for the people to file off the ferry after it has docked, the process taking a rather exorbitant amount of time because of the sheer numbers that they are bringing to the island in droves. When he’s finally able to plant his feet on the dock he sets about looking for the assistant that’s supposed to be picking him up.

“Zach? Zach Mitchell?” A woman shouts excitedly, waving a piece of paper with his name around animatedly. “You look just like the picture your aunt showed me, glad you made it safely, I’m Zara it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She holds out her hand expectantly and smiles rather enthusiastically as they shake hands.

“Nice to meet you,” Zach greets softly, the woman’s exuberance reminding him a bit of Gray.

“I’m here to show you around the island, get you familiar with it and also get you logged into the system as an employee. Then I’ll show you where you’ll be staying and get you set up where you’ll be working,” she starts walking as she talks, leading them to the tram that will transport them into the park. They step on just before the doors begin to close and stand off to the side against one of the window walls. “Are you excited to be here?” She seems genuinely interested, eyes peeking up every so often over her ipad.

Zach can feel his phone going crazy in his pocket, but he doesn’t feel bothered to deal with his family right now. “Yeah, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for,” Zach’s eyes wander out the window, miles of jungle zooming by as the tram bullets down the track towards the entrance to the park.

He has to admit that the large wooden gates opening as their entrance to the park is pretty awesome, as is the ever-burning torch over the doors. Zara’s happily tapping away at her ipad beside him, obviously used to the expanse of nature offered just outside the window, and so it doesn’t captivate her anymore. Zach observes her quietly for a second, eyes highlighting on the bright bling of her diamond engagement ring and subsequent lack of a wedding band—so it’s new—and then lets his gaze trail up her arm to her collar where a delicate edge of a bruise peeks from under the cream of her blouse…very new indeed. He smiles softly, already letting the exuberance of the atmosphere around him infect him.

“Is there any way you could possibly tell me a little more about what I’ll be doing? The email was a little vague.” Zach asks sheepishly, playing off the pretty boy puppy eyes that have earned him more than a few things over the year. Zara looks up briefly from her screen and gives him a knowing smirk, twinging his cheek like she’s admonishing a small child.

“Oh Zach sweetie, Claire told me all about you, but it’s definitely not a secret what you’ll be doing—“ Zara types something quickly into her screen and a colorful graphic pops up that she tilts towards Zach so he can glance over it. “Your aunt wanted you to have the full experience and find somewhere you’d truly enjoy working so she’s going to cycle you through some of the attractions over the first few months and see if anything sticks. She wants you to learn as much as possible, soak it all in, and most of all enjoy yourself.” Zara looks at him pointedly as she finishes, it’s probably no secret that he was using this opportunity as a bid to true independence—a break from the norm.

Zach nods after a second, digesting the information slowly, “sounds fun, getting to do a little bit of everything.” He smiles gratefully, happy to somewhat actually know what he’s doing.

The tram slows to a stop at the docking station, the doors opening with the release of pressurized air. The heat instantly hits him again, more like a slap to the face with the wet-density of it. “We’re going to head up to HQ, and get you logged into the system as an employee, once you get all the clearance and passes it will be able to be updated automatically depending on what job you’re currently doing. With each job, there’s going to be different security clearances and allowances for different areas. For obvious safety reasons, certain staff will only be allowed in certain places and so on. If it’s an emergency or if there is a specific reason you need to access an area that is considered restricted for your pass then you can always radio HQ and get them to override the lock.” The amount of information kind of blurs past him, but he grasps the basic concept—even employees have limits after all.

Zach hasn’t been to a theme park in many years, but the first step off the tram and he remembers just how truly intense it can be to wade through masses of people when you have a particular destination in mind. Zara makes it look easy, side stepping wild children and oblivious adults with practiced ease while Zach struggles to not drag his suitcase over unassuming toes or knock small kids down. They end up snagging one of the many suped up golf carts to drive the rest of the way to command. Zara points out various attractions on the way, eventually entering a ‘personnel only’ gate and having a much easier time of driving with no tourists clogging the roads. The mass expanse of landscape set out around them is captivating and awe inspiring.

Command is a formidable building, imposing in its stark contrast to the landscape and an obvious center of power and order for the whole island. Zara parks out front and leads him inside the ground floor and off to the right where a bunch of service desks are situated. She starts speaking to a friendly looking woman behind on of the counters and giving her all the necessary information about Zach for him. 

“—Zach! Oh my god, that is you…you look amazing, so grown up!” He would recognize his aunt Claire’s voice anywhere, smirking he turns towards her approach.

“Well to be fair you haven’t seen me in a few years, I had quite the growth spurt,” he teases, jokingly estimating with his hands just how much he had shot up since his aunt last saw him. There had been quite the period of time where Claire had been caught up in her career, and living on Isla Nublar didn’t afford for much traveling home for holidays. She doesn’t regret it, but it was definitely a surprise when Zach had reached out to her a few years ago and caught up with her after she had firmly labeled herself an absentee aunt.

“Don’t be an ass,” she growls good-naturedly, socking him in the arm. “Zara treating you well?” She asks teasingly, smile widening when she sees the affronted look on her secretary’s face.

“He’s in one piece isn’t he?” Zara jokes, holding out a rectangular piece of glass, thin and only big enough for a hand to fit on. “This is to take your hand print, some of the more secure areas require some bio-locks and this also serves the purpose of finger-printing all employees as well, company policy.” He places his hand delicately on the thin glass and watches as a light slides under his hand, scanning the ridges of his skin and printing them on the computer screen for everyone to see.

“Okay, that was pretty cool…” Zach admits, watching interestedly as his finger-prints manage to pull up a whole file of information about him from most of his life. The lady at the desk asks him a few more questions and then directs him to stand against a blank wall where she snaps a picture of him for his employee badge. It prints neatly next to her and she slaps a clip onto it before handing it across the counter into Zach’s eager hands. It’s on one of those retractable clips so that Zach doesn’t have to remove it each time he’s entering somewhere.

“Here’s the basic welcome packet,” the lady intones, “you’ll find your room assignment in there, your fingerprint should get you in there no problem. Your badge can be used in the employee cafeteria for meals, you are allowed three a day and anything extra is placed on your expense tab. As well, anything added to your employee tab is automatically deducted from your pay each month. There is also your head-set and walk talkie, phone, laptop, and basic schedule for the next few months. I understand you’ll be trying out different jobs for the time being to see where you fit. At the end of the different two-week periods you’ll be asked to fill out a short survey about your experience with that particular job and when you’ve tried everything out they will be compared to the report filed by your supervisor to find the best fit for you. That will be the job you will work for your remaining time here. There is also a paper map in there but it can also be accessed on any of your electronic devices and there are multiple stationed around the island for tourists and employees alike. Anything you should need can likely be checked out for a period of time, such as: jeeps, golf carts, weapons, etc. However, you direct supervisor has to have approved it and such. Depending on what job you work means different hours and different time off. Your supervisor will brief you at the beginning of each new work period. Any questions?” She slides a satchel across the counter now, the contents near bursting out from inside and Zach has to reign in the urge to tear through it all like a kid on Christmas.

“Uh…” the three women around him laugh lightly.

“No worries Zach, if you have any questions you know you can always text me or Zara,” Claire supplies, understanding that the vast amount of information that was just thrown at him probably flew right over his head. She remembers when she had first seen the island, the effect of it not lost on her. “Let’s get you settled in okay? The other boxes and suitcases you had shipped should already be in your new apartment. Due to the sheer number of employees on the island you’ll be sharing with another worker. Your bedrooms are separate but the rest of the spaces are shared.” Zach had expected that, for short-term employees such as himself he knew that company housing was in a large hotel like high-rise that saw its fair share of employee change over. Long-term employees like Claire were offered better housing, meaning more permanent options. Zach for a fact knows that Claire has a nice little bungalow for one.

However, he’s excited to have a roommate. "Bring it on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yep, i suck for taking so long to update this, but my muse is finally back and i'm hoping to have another chapter for you guys by the end of the week. 
> 
> tell me your guesses for what jobs zach is going to try?!  
> also try to guess what job he's going to end up with (hint: it will not be jr. raptor trainer, sorryyyyyy) but I think what it have planned for him you'll really like and think fits for him!!!

**Author's Note:**

> comments and subscribes make me happy. also love to talk so drop me something in the comments!!


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